


Infinite Possibilities

by Ruolumen



Series: A Father's Protection [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2017-12-09 07:31:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruolumen/pseuds/Ruolumen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony grows up in a happy home, and these are the stories of his childhood told chronologically.</p><p>(AKA I had to learn how not to hate Howard, so here's an AU childhood series of shorts for a different AU fic.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Infant Possibilities

**Author's Note:**

> This story, and collection, would not be possible without U_can_tell_he_is_evil_by_the_backwards_A. She gave me the idea for the story, told me I needed to write some nice Howard stories for my AU story that this work is attached to, is helping me write the same story, and beta'd this for me. She is an angel and I could not finish most of my stories without her.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Maria goes out for the night, Howard has to figure out how to handle an infant child alone and ends up with a pleasant surprise.

“Please Howard, I just need a few hours out with the girls,” Maria nearly begged, cooing to and rocking the fussy baby in her arms while simultaneously attempting to apply her makeup.

The man in question looked down at his wife, seeing the bags under her eyes, the exhaustion within them. He knew she needed a break from the baby, but… “Maria, you know I have a lot of work right now.”

Wearily she set down the makeup and looked up at her husband. “Maybe I should ask Jarvis then?”

“Jarvis has the week off, my love, visiting family in England,” Howard reminded her gently, “he won’t return until Sunday.”

Sighing in defeat, Maria began packing up the makeup scattered around her, but the disappointment on her face made Howard change his mind. Reaching out, he gingerly took the child from his wife’s arms. Howard knew he had made the right decision, even if he was hopelessly out of his depth as to know what to do with children, when she looked p at him, surprise and hope gleaming in her eyes.

“Howard, are you sure?” she asked. “You have so many projects to work on.”

“They will still be there tomorrow,” he told her, smiling and rocking the baby the way she had shown him to before. Maria stood and hugged him gently, being careful of the child in his arms, and gave him a quick kiss before sitting back down to properly apply her make-up and prepare for the night.

Deciding that they needed to move around, and to give Maria her space, Howard left the room and headed towards the part of the house he was most comfortable in, his study. “Well, little one,” he spoke to the squirming infant in his arms, “Mommy needs a break tonight, so take it easy on your old man, okay? I haven’t done this before and I would rather not screw you up any more than necessary.”

Hearing Maria leave, Howard dreaded what would happen next. He was out of his depth without Jarvis or Maria around to help with the baby. When nothing happened for a few moments he started to relax. Though, of course, that was when the baby decided to make his displeasure known. The problem was, Howard had no idea why the child was displeased.

It was during this time, while Howard attempted to calm the baby, he realized he had wasted the past six months. The time he had been spending on work, though important, could have been spent with his son. Sure it provided his family with nice things and kept this exquisite roof over their heads, but it had left him greatly unequipped to handle his crying son. He had no idea what would calm him down (it was only later he realized Maria singing helped calm Tony) or how to keep his arms from getting sore while holding the baby for any length of time.

With a sigh, Howard left his study and walked towards the kitchen. Maybe the baby was hungry? Carefully setting the child down on the island in the middle of the kitchen, Howard looked into the fridge for something that a six-month baby could safely eat. He really should have expected Tony would scream as soon as he turned his back. The flailing arms were unexpected though. Quickly Howard picked the child up again, and the screams lessened in volume immediately. Apparently the problem was something other than food.

Maybe he needed his diaper changed? Howard hoped that was not the case. Instead of checking, he carried the baby out of the kitchen, looking for anyone or anything that could help him. Desperate, Howard grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around his son, who was only wearing a diaper (and where had the blanket he had been wearing gone?)

Once again the child quieted, the cries becoming more akin to mumbling, and Howard smiled. He began to talk to Tony, about mathematics, physics, engineering, whatever he could think of, and the more Howard talked, the quieter his son became, until the boy appeared to be listening with wide and wondrous eyes, looking for all the world as if he understood what he had been saying.

Smiling at his little genius, Howard made his way back towards his bedroom, settling on his bed and leaning against the headboard while he continued to talk. Eventually Tony fell asleep in his arms, and Howard was struck with just how beautiful his child was. Those words stuck in his mind: his child. For the first time since Maria had announced her pregnancy, he finally understood that the baby that at the beginning of the night had been nothing more than a fussy bundle of flesh he was responsible for creating into his precious baby boy that he was proud to have created, Anthony Edward Stark. Howard knew then that he would do anything for this child. He would not miss any more time with him. He would protect and cherish this child, his child, the way he should have all along. It was time to make his family his top priority. (Howard did eventually realize that he did not need to take a picture every minute of every day of Tony’s life, mainly because said son finally told him enough times that it was getting ridiculous and he needed to put that damn camera down. Now. Though Howard always remembered that night, and he was always there for his son.)

Maria came home that night to find Howard mumbling nonsense to their sleeping baby, exhausted, but with a smile on his face. She was so pleased, so proud, to have the two most precious boys in her life finally connect as she had hoped they would from the beginning.


	2. Rugrats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While their parents reminisce, Steve and Tony decide to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony are approximately 3 years old here, but are both fairly advanced for their ages. Still, I don’t have much practice writing for ages that young and if they sound too sophisticated I apologize. Anyway, this was inspired by the episode ‘Pee Wee Scouts’ of Rugrats, though obviously tweaked. Please enjoy

It had started like every other play date. Maria and Howard had set it up the week prior, knowing Tony would be pleased getting to see Steve again outside of preschool. It helped that the adults were just as good of friends as their children, so they got to enjoy the days as well.

The morning had been rainy and wet, so Maria and Howard decided it would be fun to spend the day reminiscing. Before their friends arrived Howard had Jarvis bring their old home videos to their largest living room.

Peggy and Bucky arrived on time like always and it took less than 0.2 seconds for Tony to grab Steve’s wrist and drag him off to play, speaking quickly to him in their own unique form of gibberish.

“I love that they have their own language,” Peggy confided in Maria, while their husbands greeted each other.

“Oh yes, it is quite exceptional,” Maria agreed, hugging her best friend.

“So I suppose the barbeque plans are off due to the weather,” Bucky spoke to Howard after they said their hellos.

With a short laugh, Howard shook his head. “Hardly,” he informed his friend, “I have a covered patio if it doesn’t let up.”

“Ah, of course,” Bucky responded with a grin.

Not long after the adults wandered in to the living room, where the videos were prepared for their viewing pleasure. Jarvis brought them snacks.

“You choose a video first, Buck,” Howard invited, as the girls sat down next to each other.

Looking over his choices Bucky grinned as he pulled one out of the pile. “Our old scout video.” He waved said video around excitedly before Howard took it from him to put in to play.

“I had no idea you were a scout as well, Howard,” Peggy said, looking at the man in question.

“Only for one year.”

“It’s really a great story, honey,” Bucky grinned, moving to sit in a large stuffed chair while the video started.

Howard also sat down in a comfortable chair (as their wives had taken then entire couch) and chuckled. “Buck bribed me to join him in his last year, and my father could pay the organization to allow me to bypass all previous stages of scouthood.”

“Oh this must be a good story,” Peggy pressed, her interest not on the television at all.

“Howard agreed because Bucky promised to introduce him to one of the hottest girls in his public high school if he did,” Maria explained, a self-appreciating smile on her face.

“Howard went to private school?”

Bucky stepped in here. “His father forced him to when he reached high school. He was always telling me that the girls there were not up to his standards though.”

Howard laughed along with his best friend. “It’s true. They were all more in to their studies than the people around them, particularly interested men. When Bucky offered to introduce me to one of his female friends from his school in exchange for him to not have to finish out the scouts alone, it didn’t seem like such a large price to pay.”

“And that was…?” Peggy insisted, not wanting this conversation to stop.

Maria looked at her best friend, the biggest smile she had ever seen across her face.

“No way!” Peggy exclaimed. “Bucky introduced you two?”

The three other people in the room nodded, all of them smiling.

 

While the adults spoke Tony and Steve were standing in the doorway of the living room, much more interested in what was on the television than either sets of parents.

“That looks like fun,” Tony told his friend, watching younger versions of their dads wander through the woods on one of their outings.

Steve nodded, grinning. He always liked playing outside more than inside, and what their dads were doing on the television did look like fun. “My dad said we can’t go outside because it’s raining though,” he complained, his face falling at the prospect of not being allowed to do what he wanted to.

“We just have to play scouts inside then,” Tony announced, before going back to watching their dads on the screen. “I have an idea, come on!”

Steve followed Tony as he led him up the stairs to a rather large room with a lot of blankets and towels and pillows in it.

“My mom says its storage for guests,” Tony explained as he grabbed as much as his little arms could carry, Steve following suit. “Let’s take it to one of the offices up here that my dad never uses.”

The boys ran back and forth between the office and the storage room and soon they had a respectable pile of blankets and pillows stockpiled around them.

“What are we doing with all this stuff Tony?”

“Guess.”

Suddenly a large grin crossed Steve’s face and the boys got to work.

 

An hour or so later, Jarvis walked back in to the living room where the adults were talking, a different video playing now. “Sirs and madams, the rain has stopped, and the boys are playing in a room upstairs. I have been keeping an eye on them.”

“Oh good,” Maria smiled, walking in the direction Jarvis pointed to get their sons while the men talked about getting the barbeque in order not that the sun was out.

When they found the office Howard only used for consultations with its door cracked open, Maria and Peggy pushed the door the rest of the way open to see the sight of a lifetime.

Their sons had somehow (probably with Jarvis’s help, even if the man would never admit it) pushed the chairs together strategically to drape blankets over, effectively building the largest fort either woman had ever seen. The boys themselves were sitting on pillows drawing on paper pulled from the printer. If Maria had to guess, based solely on the drawings and excited gestures as the boys still insisted in only using their language with each other despite both of them being able to speak, she would guess that they were planning how to make their fort bigger and better.

Grinning at each other, the women backed out of the room unnoticed and walked back towards their husbands. They would worry about getting the boys when dinner was actually ready, or wait for them to come seeking food themselves if that was easier.

“They are cute little rugrats,” Peggy said as they made their way down the stairs, giggling.

Maria nodded, her eyes lighting up at how perfect her life was. “They are, aren’t they?”


	3. Bedtime Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Howard fails to show for his promised bedtime story, Tony goes looking for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written quite some time ago but the Rugrats story had to come first chronologically and it took me forever to actually sit down and write, sorry. Anyway, for those wondering, yes the mention of Jack Frost is a Rise of the Guardians reference, because how could I not? So, Tony is approximately 6 years old in this story, and we are building the relationship between him and his father. Now, read on!

Tony had been snuggled up in his bed, clutching his Captain America action figure (only girls had dolls!) and trying to stay awake for nearly an hour now, which was quite a feat for a six year old. Of course, he would be asleep already if his Daddy had come in to read him the story he had promised at dinner. Tony was getting impatient, so he decided to go find his dad himself and get the story owed to him. He refused to fall asleep after receiving the promise of a story if he was not going to get it.

Making sure he had the good Captain with him, Tony wrapped his blanket around himself and made his way across enemy lines, because either Mommy or Jarvis would send him back to bed without a story if they caught him, to his father’s workroom.

 

Howard had been up for over forty-eight hours, working on a project that he had to keep top secret. He had only been out of his workroom for short periods during the last two days, and he had no memory of things that had transpired in the outside world for the past twenty-four hours.

Being as immersed in his work as he was Howard did not hear the door to his workshop open, or the patter of little feet crossing the wooden floor until a child’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“Daddy?”

Howard’s head snapped up, a flash of anger coursing through him at being interrupted, before he saw his son’s expectant eyes, the action figure Howard had given him for his last birthday clutched to his chest, and the anger melted out of him. With a smile, the man waved his son towards him, and the child rushed into his arms, wide smile on his face.

“What is it Tony?” he asked once the boy was settled, adjusting the blanket to cover both of their laps.

“You said at dinner you would read me a story before bed,” his son informed him in the little demanding tone he was quickly becoming infamous for.

Howard chuckled and pulled his son back so that he was sitting with his back to his father’s chest, and rested his chin on his son’s head. “I did, didn’t I?”

The boy nodded his head.

“Well what story would you like to hear?”

“A war story!”

Howard smiled and thought about it, before grinning and looking at his son. “How about one of Grandpa’s stories about Captain America?” he asked.

“Yeah!” the boy cheered his excitement.

“Alright, so there he was at the top of the mountain, Captain America with his men and best friend. They had to get to a train down below, and so he set up a zip-line to get them down.” Howard continued his story, through his best friend falling off the train and the good Captain going crazy and killing every one of his enemies due to his sorrow and rage. He was explaining the gruesome details when a voice interrupted them.

“Howard!”

Both boys looked up at Maria’s voice, Howard surprised and Tony teary-eyed and clinging to his father.

“What do you think you are telling him?” she demanded with a strained smile, trying to remain calm for her son.

“A story…?” he answered uncertainly.

“Not that story! A bed time story is supposed to be happy and make you feel good, not bring tears to your child’s eyes!”

“That was what he asked for,” Howard protested weakly, already knowing he had lost.

“And if he asked for you to boil him in water and throw him over a cliff would you?” she snapped, her hands landing on her hips. Oh, it was always bad when she put her hands on her hips, nothing good every came from that stance.

Howard stared at his wife, stunned into silence by her graphic choice of words, but answered haltingly anyway. “No…?”

“That’s right,” she nodded.

Howard looked sheepishly down at his son and pulled him into a hug, before looking back up at his wife. “I promised him a bed time story, though.”

Maria sighed. “Of course I am glad you remembered that, but he has a collection of books in his room that are appropriate for a six year old,” she informed him kindly (though Howard was grateful no documented cases of death had come from a look).

Howard nodded, knowing it was time to quit the argument before he fell further behind. Picking up Tony, his blanket and Captain America acting as a sort of shield from his wife’s ire, he smiled at Maria weakly as he carried his son back to his room and tucked him into bed. Once Tony was snuggled in, Howard looked through the books on the shelf. Picking one up he held it for his son to see.

“How about the story of Jack Frost?” he asked, smiling when Tony nods his head excitedly before sitting on the edge of the bed and beginning to read.


End file.
